Two for one: Tanglewood 2017 and The Urban Rural Artist Exchange

I am writing the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, where I am a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood. As a fellow, I am spending the summer making music with incredible musicians and continuing to study under the guidance of my mentors Sanford Sylvan and Dawn Upshaw.

I will sing on a number of public programs throughout the season. For those of you in the area or making a swing through, here are my dates:

July 6, 8 PM, Schubert's Summer Journey, Bass in two Schubert part songs with Emanuel Ax - Tickets and Info

July 11, 8 PM, Humor in Song, Two songs with pianist Marika Yasuda on a program with vocal fellows and Stephanie Blythe Tickets and Info

Community Organizing: The Urban Rural Artist Exchange ProjectI also want to share news of a a project I've developed over the last year and ask for your support. Since November, I've worked with three fellow students at Juilliard to create The Urban Rural Artist Exchange Project. Our aim is to harness the power of collaborative art-making and community organizing to grow artistic collaboration and solidarity across the urban-rural divide. I'm writing today to ask for your support by donating to our founding fundraising campaign on IndieGogo. Check it out, watch our video, donate, and share this link:https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/urban-rural-artist-exchange-project#/

In May we held our first event, a three-day intensive with youth from the Appalachian Media Institute in Whitesburg, Kentucky. To see media and reflections on the week, follow our facebook page. The fundraising campaign closes on July 5 and a big thank you to everyone who has already donated so generously!

In addition to our external aims of strengthening narratives and relationships of empathy and solidarity between urban and rural communities, this project has been a way for me to continue weaving my artistic and political work together. Nate May, composer of Dust in the Bottomland, long-time friend and collaborator joined the team in Kentucky, and will be a part of the ongoing work. Finding a team of artists and activists to continue this exploration with has been an highlight of my first year at Juilliard.

Your support will enable us to continue the exchange, bringing artists and youth from Kentucky to New York in 2017-18 and lay the foundation for a larger exchange in summer 2018. Now is the time for artists to show up and use our crafts to construct new narratives that are rooted in our distinct histories and embrace our present differences and commonality. Join us in our efforts, donate as you are able, share our campaign and help us set this vital process in motion.

On the whole the past year has been a time of "going to the gym" to strengthen the core skills of my craft, but through this project and the time and space afforded to me by my fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, I am looking forward to deepening my investigation of the productive tension between my work as a classical artist and person grappling with 21st century politics, ecology and culture.